Did you know that the author J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a lot of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the trenches in France during the First World War? He actually based a lot of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit on his experiences in battle. For example he based the Dead Marshes upon No Man's Land. What is pretty incredible is that he was able to invent some of the elvish languages while he was in the trenches. At first, he was going to fight in the complete disaster for the Allies which was the Battle of the Somme where millions of Allied soldiers got killed by the Germans, including many of his friends, but he contracted trench fever. He was sent back to England , and if he would've fought, he could've been killed, and he never would've finished writing The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. After his experiences in The Great War, he went on to teach at Oxford University. While he was still a professor, in 1937, he first published The Hobbit as a story for his kids. He, in the early 1950's, first published The Lord of the Rings, using a lot of languages that he wrote in the trenches. Both of these books have become well loved classics.
About 40 years later, a New Zealand filmmaker by the name of Peter Jackson obtained the rights to produce The Lord of the Rings. Jackson, when he was reading, actually figured that the locations that Tolkien described in the books, reminded him of his homeland New Zealand. Because they filmed over 90% in such beautiful locations in New Zealand, it actually makes it seem a lot more magical, and more real, than if they filmed it mostly on green screens. Jackson did an awesome job filming the locations to make them seem more authentic. About a decade later, he obtained the rights to film The Hobbit Trilogy and go back to Middle Earth. Some people say that the films are not close to the book and they shouldn't have done it 3 movies. I actually agree with how the filmmakers did it, because if you've ever read the Appendices (which Tolkien attempted to rewrite The Hobbit with, but he never got around to finishing) they are actually pretty close to the book. They used the Appendices for a lot of the filming.
Well here I am near some of the Middle Earth locations, and I just love the scenery. I have been to a lot of the film locations which has been pretty incredible. I could re-watch them, and for a lot of the scenes I could say I've been there over and over again; but also, I could be grateful and remember how much work and long hours it took for them to film it. If Tolkien would've fought at the Battle of the Somme, we probably never would have Middle Earth. I just love to reread the books, and remember how much effort it would have taken Professor Tolkien to base a lot of them upon his battles where many of his best friends died. The movies, I shall say for a long time, are the closest books to movies I have ever seen.